less than a minute into the new year, my mom and i started off with a spat. she toasted me to find a boyfriend, "a nice, kind, engineer earning a good income," and i got irritated and asked her if this boyfriend was for me or for her, and that i didn't want to hear it. so she smacked me on the head, passive-aggressively playful, and i smacked her back. thus ensued a 30-minute silent treatment with me apologizing first, then being mad when she accepts my apology and doesn't apologize herself. then tomorrow morning it will all be forgotten, acting like best friends or rival sisters, depending on the weather. hello, 2010. some things will never change. like taxes, rain the day after you wash your car, and love/hate mother-daughter relations.